LIHEAP -- the federal Low-Income Heating Assistant Program -- is designed to help. It sparks a perennial battle in Congress (fiscal conservatives and warm-state lawmakers tend to be less friendly to the federal subsidy) that almost always ends in some kind of compromise.

Almost. For this winter, after years of cutbacks, no money has been pumped into the federal pipeline. Without federal action, the program is done.

It's an issue that's among very many that fuels local anger toward Congress: People want their LIHEAP, just like they want their Medicare, say, and resent the inaction. An issue worth tracking in both local and federal races going into the fall.